User Reviews for Lorazepam

Also known as: Ativan, Lorazepam Intensol

The following information is NOT intended to endorse drugs or recommend therapy. While these reviews might be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care.

User Ratings

Lorazepam Rating Summary

8.3/10Average Rating

70 Ratings with 57 User Reviews

What next?Compare all 107 medications used in the treatment of Insomnia.

Reviews for Lorazepam to treat Insomnia

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"42 y.o. Female with anxiety and insomnia. Taking Lorazepam (0.25-0.5mg) before bed. Works very well for me. No side effects, lowers anxiety level and helps me to sleep. Never had a need to take more, only less and all depending on stress levels at home. Went for a long trip and forgot it, no withdrawal symptoms. 3 years and not planning to stop unless something better comes around."

"I have bad anxiety and am severely depressed and have bad insomnia. Doctor prescribed me Ativan. I took one at night to help me sleep. It helped me sleep alright all night. Woke up had a coffee then promptly fell asleep again had lunch at 1130 was up for an hour and a half. I then promptly fell asleep again the whole afternoon. That is the one and only time I took one. I told my GP I was prescribed this and told him I am not taking anymore as all I do is sleep. I do not know what is worse insomnia or sleeping all the time. He then told me to keep taking it what did he not understand. So I am not taking it anymore and will just deal with it on my own with no pills."

"I have taken benzos on and off for most of my adult life, for insomnia/anxiety/panic attacks. I will start off by saying I am terrified of hypnotic sleeping pills (Z drugs etc) they make me stupid the next day which I can't deal with. I've been prescribed various benzos such as Ativan, Xanax, Klonopin, Restoril, out of all of them I find lorazepam (Ativan) is the best. I don't get a 'high' feeling from it, it just relaxes me enough to get some peaceful sleep and I have no side effects the next day. Xanax makes me feel high, and Restoril makes me high and binge eat - not good at all. Unlike other benzos, you can take your Ativan pill sublingually as they don't have a bitter taste; this makes them work quickly."

Ativan (lorazepam):"I have been taking 1 1/2 mg every other night for sleep for the past 3 years. I have tried my other drugs for sleep and ativan is the only one that works consistently.
Because of its addiction potential I take it only every other night.
Also I have not had to increase the dosage in 3 years, which I believe is a result of not taking it every night.
It is easier to tolerate my non-Ativan night of insomnia when I know I will be sleeping well the next night."

Ativan (lorazepam):"I rarely have trouble falling asleep so that's not why I use it. I use it to stay asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night for whatever reason. There are times when I wake up 2-3 hours before I want to and my brain shifts into overdrive and I can't get back to sleep, or if I do, it takes me about an hour. This medication eliminates that. I only use it if I've had a few nights in a row like that. Then I get caught up and wake up rested. I would never feel comfortable about using it nightly. Thankfully I don't need to. 0.5mg is all it takes for me. I'm 5'3" about 130 give or take 5lbs. A bottle of 30 lasts me several weeks or a few months."

"It has worked well for about 12 years as treatment for insomnia at 2 mg. with no side effects. Lately it has lost its effectiveness and all other drugs I have tried, including Ambien, do not work at all. I am wondering if it is safe to take in higher dosage for a long term. Lack of sleep is a terrible curse, although oddly I have little or no fatigue even though I am 68."

Ativan (lorazepam):"I was prescribed Ativan (aka Lorezapam) because I had a head injury and my Doctor presumably thought that I had a very high level of anxiety (I wasn't getting enough sleep with the head injury so the Doctors perception was incorrect), but once I started using Ativan sleep woes disappeared completely of which I had always had problems staying asleep for virtually all of my life !
Ativan (Lorezapam) puts you into a "deep" sleep, you don't wake up during the middle of the night (Or late night for that matter!), cuts dreaming down to virtually zero and is THE BEST SLEEP MEDICATION I HAVE "EVER" SEEN !!!
My prescription was for 1mg and to be taken 1 hour before going to sleep which is exactly what I did !
Effective Rating = "10" !"

Ativan (lorazepam):"It was given to me in the hospital to aid in sleeping. I woke up in another hospital bed down the hall. It was empty and I was trying to get in that bed. I had a heart monitor on, but I had moved out of my room, and was half dressed wandering the halls until I came on the nurse station. Why didn't someone know I was having an issue, because of my disconnected heart monitor? They put me back in bed and seemed upset at me. They never explained. I just took it once. I was awake but couldn't see or know what has happened, or about to happen. Could have walked off a bldg. "

"DO NOT take benzos for insomnia - they work great, until you reach tolerance, and then you go into full withdrawal unless you up the dose considerably.
By then you probably will have already found the dirty underside of this terrible drug, which is agoraphobia, brutal insomnia, loss of motivation and stunning depression. Next, you'll find out that you cannot withdraw from this drug in a reasonable manner, and the required tapering-off methods could take years. During withdrawal you will have the worst insomnia imaginable, for months on end, and nothing will relieve it, except more benzos than any doctor will prescribe.
Don't even start on this evil drug. If you think this is an overreaction, Google "benzodiazepine withdrawal"."

"Ativan/Lorazipam provides a very sound, sustained sleep with few if any dreams. I have never had problems getting to sleep, but staying asleep was a real issue. Waking up at 4AM with an active mind and watching the sun rise knowing that I would crash at midday was a pain. Ativan (.5 mg or 1 mg splurge) helps me sleep until the alarm and I never feel weird or dopey in the AM. HOWEVER, be aware that your body and mind get conditioned, so don't take it nightly (or sleep won't come without it). The pros are the effectiveness and the lack of side affects. The cons are dependency/poor sleep without it. I use it maybe three times per week and it's fine, alternating a night or two. Never taken it in the day, likely never will."

"I have very loud tinnitus (hissing-ringing in ears) from exposure to noise in submarine engine rooms for several years. I take 1/2 mg lorazepam at bedtime to let "sleep find me". I have been taking this for 4 years and have NO after effects. I wake up feeling awake and good. Some sleep meds leave me feeling "drugged" in the morning. No so for Ativan.
It works well for me and I can stop (have done so at times) with no withdrawal symptoms other than not sleeping well.
Good stuff for me. I am not an addictive type and went thru high school, Navy, college and 40 years of work and have NEVER used or tried recreational drugs.
Thanks."

"Works like magic when you need sleep or have anxiety 0.5 is all I need I get the best sleep with it. Seems like I can never fall asleep at night I go back and forth in my mind about taking it because I don't wanna get addicted . But I need sleep so I take it"

"I had trouble getting to sleep, getting a restful sleep and waking up after a few hours and sometimes could not get back to sleep. Even when exhausted my mind was racing a few minutes after I went to bed. I was constantly tired, had no energy to do much during the day. I was prescribed lorazepam, lowest dose to take at bedtime as needed. However, after a year I was having so many up and down days because I wasn't sleeping well every night (tried to take it twice a week, because I don't like to take medications) that my Doctor said to take it every night which I started to do in Dec 2015 and I have had the best sleep I've had in six years. I have fibromyalgia which contributes to the sleep problem. I don't have any side effects."

"Took this with zoloft to get me out of a black hole of anxiety and insomnia after a terrible few weeks trying remeron. Withdrawals from remeron were terrible and I didn't sleep for about 6 days (I'm not exagerating). Was about to give up but my dad convinced me to try another med since I had an obvious chemical imbalance that wasn't correcting itself. Despite not wanting to rely on a benzo for sleep I really didn't have any alternatives and I needed help fast. Zoloft combined with this for a few months got me out of the hole I was in. Tolerance did set in eventually (about a year) but I'm working on finding something safer but this med essentially saved my life."

Ativan (lorazepam):"I am going on a 14 hour plane trip and wanted a sedative. I hate flying especially on LONG flights across the world . I got Ativan. I took one (.5) before bedtime before I left home to see how it worked and how strong it was. Sadly I got zip out of it. I am super sensitive to meds.. I take an aspirin and I know in 5 minutes I am 'medicated'. SO I am majorly disappointed. Now I am even more anxious about my trip. ugh."

"My doctor started me off on 1mg 3 times/day and I kept trying less (with doctor permission) and am now down to .25 in afternoon and at bedtime with an additional .25 during night if needed - it works fine for me and minimal side effects."

"I've been prescribed lorazepam for six plus years. It started for what I found out was anxiety due to a very stressful work environment and caring for my aging mother...I couldn't manage life. I sometimes I couldn't sleep either. I started taking lorazepam as needed...approximately 20 to 30 minutes before an exceptionally stressful situation and it worked great. I was able to slow down, omit the anxiety so I wasn't reactive and make my points in a clear and concise form. I started taking them for sleep, to stop the committee from meeting in my mind 1 to 2 mg as needed. I never feel sedated in the morning they work great. My physician thought it would be prudent to transfer me to Valium because I've been taking lorazepam to long....now"